Pans of Cream

24 October 202424 October 2024 By Simon

The Italian word panna looks like it could mean pan or something similar, but in fact means cream.

A lot of Italian words are similar to words in Spanish, French or English, so you can often guess their meanings, but sometimes you come across words like this that don’t mean what you might expect them to mean.

Panna [ˈpan.na] comes from panno, which means cloth, as cream covers milk like a cloth, from Latin pānnus (cloth, rag, garment), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂n- (fabric). Or from Latin patina (a broad, shallow dish, a pan, a kind of cake, a crib, a manger), from Ancient Greek πατάνη (patánē – a kind of flat dish) [source].

Types of panna in Italian include:

panna acida = sour(ed) cream
panna da cucina = long-life cream used for cooking, double cream (UK)
panna montata = whipped cream [source]
panna cotta = panna cotta – a northern Italian dessert consisting of flavoured double cream set with gelatine, often served with fruit sauce or caramel syrup.). Lit. “cooked cream” [source]

Other words that come from the Latin pānnus include (window) pane in English, pan (piece, part, side, face, flap, patch) in French, pano (cloth, rag) in Portuguese, paño (cloth, wipe) in Spanish, and πανί (paní – cloth, fabric, sail) in Greek [source].

Other words from the Latin patina and/or Ancient Greek πατάνη include pan, patina (a coat, film, glaze) in English, patena (paten – the plate used to hold the host during the Eucharist) in Italian, panela (a solid piece of unrefined sugar; a Mexican cheese) in Spanish, pan (pan, cooking pot) in Dutch, Pfanne (frying pan) in German, panna (forehead, brow, pan, boiler) in Swedish, pande (forehead, pan) in Danish [source].

The word crema [ˈkrɛ.ma] is also used in Italian for cream, particularly to cleaning creams, lotions, the colour cream or cream flavour. For example, crema solare is sun cream, crema per il viso is face cream, crema detergente is cleansing cream, crema da barba is shaving cream and so on [source].

Crema comes from French crème (cream, cool), from Middle French chresme (cream), from Old French cresme (cream), from Latin crāma, from crāmum (cream), possibly from Gaulish *crama (?), from Proto-Celtic *krammen (?), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)krama- (?) [source].

Related words include:

cremino = a chocolate truffle, a creamy cheese
cremoso = creamy
cremosamente = creamily
cremosità = creaminess
scremàre = to skim, to cream off

Jack Of All Trades

10 October 2024 By Simon

If someone described you as a jack of all trades, would you see it as a compliment or an insult?

These days, this phrase might refer to someone who has some ability in a variety of things, but doesn’t excel at any of them. Or in other words, a generalist with superficial knowledge / ability in various areas, rather than a specialist who focuses on becoming expert at one thing.

The earliest known version of the phrase in English, Jack-of-all-trades, appeared in print in 1618 in Geffray Mynshul’s book Essayes and Characters of a prison and prisoners in the following passage:

Now for the moﬅ part your porter is either ſome broken cittizen, who hath plaid Jack-of-all-trades, ſome pander, broker, or hangman, that hath plaid the knaue with all men, and for the more certainty his embleme is a red beard, to which ſacke hath made his noſe couſin german.

Key: ﬅ = st, ſ = s, moﬅ = most, cittizen = citizen, hath = has, plaid = played, knaue = knave, noſe = nose

A longer version of the phrase is jack of all trades, master of none – the master of none part, or something similar, was added in the 18th century. It first appears in the Gnomologia: Adagies and Proverbs; Wise Sentences and Witty Sayings, Ancient and Modern, Foreign and British as:

Jack of all Trades is of no Trade

Sometimes the phrase is made less insulting by adding an extra part: Jack of all trades, master of none, but better than a master of one, or Jack of all trades, master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one. These are modern additions to the phrase, although some people claim that the ‘original’ version included something like them [source].

Synonyms for jack of all trades include:

generalist = a person with a broad general knowledge, especially one with more than superficial knowledge in several areas and the ability to combine ideas from diverse fields.
polymath = a person with extraordinarily broad and comprehensive knowledge. From Ancient Greek πολυμαθής (polumathḗs – having learnt much).
Renaissance man/woman/person
factotum = a person employed to do all sorts of duties, a general servant, a person having many diverse activities or responsibilities. From Latin faciō (do, make) & tōtum (everything).
sciolist [ˈsaɪəlɪst] = one who exhibits only superficial knowledge; a self-proclaimed expert with little real understanding. From Late Latin sciolus, a diminutive of scius (knowing).
multipotentialite = a term coined by Emilie Wapnick in 2015 to refer to people with many interests and creative pursuits. See: https://puttylike.com

Here are some equivalent phrases in other languages:

万事通 [萬事通] (wànshìtōng) = jack of all trades, know-it-all: “10,000 things expert” (Chinese)
duizendpoot = a person of many talents; a centipede: “1,000 leg” (Dutch)
touche-à-tout = jack of all trades: “[who] touches everything” (French)
何でも屋 = (nandemoya) generalist, jack of all trades: “anything-er” (Japanese)
hombre orquesta = one-man band, factotum: “man orchestra” (Spanish)

Are you a generalist, or more of a specialist?

I’m more of a generalist with a variety of interests, skills and knowledge. For me, one language is never enough, and neither is one instrument, one type of music, or one type of juggling or other circus skill.

Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_of_all_trades
https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/jack-of-all-trades.html
https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/408782/is-jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none-really-just-a-part-of-a-longer-proverb

Buttery Donkeys

4 October 20244 October 2024 By Simon

In my Italian lessons today, I learnt the word burro, which means butter. In Spanish, the same word means donkey, and I decided to find out more about these words.

Buttery Donkeys

Burro [ˈbur.ro] (butter) in Italian comes from Old French burre (butter), from Latin būtȳrum (butter), from Ancient Greek βούτῡρον [bǔː.tyː.ron] (butter), from βοῦς (boûs – cow) and‎ τυρός (turós – cheese) [source].

Words from the same roots include butter in English, boter (butter) in Dutch, buerre (butter) in French, and βούτυρο [ˈvu.ti.ɾo] (butter) in Greek [source].

Related words and expressions in Italian include:

burrificàre = to churn (cream, to make butter)
burroso = buttery
imburràre = to butter, grease with butter
butirro = butter (for cooking)
avere le mani di burro = to be butter-fingered [source]

Incidentally, in England a buttery can refer to a room for keeping food or beverages, a storeroom, or a room in a university where snacks are sold. While in Scotland, particularly in Aberdeen, a buttery is a savoury bread roll (see photo above), also known as a rowie, Aberdeen buttery, Aberdeen roll or rollie [source].

The Spanish word burro [ˈburo] means stupid, pig-headed, donkey, racehorse, also-ran, stubborn fool, sawhorse or swing [source]. The same word with similar meanings is also found in Catalan, Galician and Portuguese [source].

It comes from borrico (donkey, a stubborn, lazy, or stupid person), from Latin burricus (small horse), from burrus (red, reddish-brown), from Ancient Greek πυρρός (purrhós – flame colored, red-haired, red, blushing), from πῦρ (pûr – fire, lightning, fever), Proto-Hellenic *pāwər, from Proto-Indo-European *péh₂wr̥ (fire, spelt [grain]) [source].

Words from the same roots include burlap (a very strong, coarse cloth), fire, purge, pyre, pyromancy (divination by fire) in English; πυρ (pyr – fire) in Greek; vuur (fire, heater, lighter) in Dutch, and fona (spark) in Portuguese [source].

Related words and expressions in Spanish include:

burrero = horse-loving, race-going, mule/donley driver, coarse person, horse-lover
burro de agua = big wave
burro de carga = workhorse, dogsbody, beast of burden, drudge, pack mule
burro de planchar = ironing board
lomo de burro = speed bump
salto de burro = leapfrog
ponerse burro = to dig one’s heels in, be pigheaded
caerse del burro = to admit defeat
no ver tres en un burro = to be as blind as a bat
trabajar como un burro = to work like a dog / horse [source]

Snub Nosed Simians

27 September 202427 September 2024 By Simon

The other day I came across the word scimmia in my Italian lessons and wondered where it comes from. It’s rather unlike words for monkey in other Romance languages, such as mono in Spanish, macaco in Portuguese, maimuță in Romanian, and singe in French.

Scimmia [ˈʃim.mja] comes from Latin sīmia (ape, monkey, imitator), from sīmus (snub-nosed, flattened, splayed), from Ancient Greek σῑμός [siˈmos] (snub-nosed, flat nosed, steep, uphill, bent in, hollow, concave), the origins of which are uncertain [source].

Words from the same roots include simian (monkey-like, ape-like) in English, jimio [ˈxi.mjo] (ape) in Spanish, símio (ape, monkey, simian) in Portuguese, simi (simian) in Catalan, and singe (monkey, ape, foolish man) in French [source].

Related words and expressions in Italian include:

scimmiesco = monkey-like, ape-like, simian
scimmione = gorilla, ape, a clumsy and brutish person
scimmiottare = to mock, make fun of, mimic, ape
scimmiottamento = aping, mimicry
scimmiotto = small or young money, friend, pal [source]

Incidentally, the origins of the English word monkey are uncertain. It may come from monk, or from Middle Low German Moneke, the name of the son of Martin the Ape in Reynard the Fox, a collection of medieval Dutch, English, French and German fables.

Or it may be related to the Late Middle French monne (monkey), from Italian monna (monkey), from Old Spanish mona (female monkey, from mamona, from maimón (a type of monkey with a prehensile tail), from Arabic مَيْمُون (maymūn – baboon, mandrill). Mono in Spanish comes from the same roots, as does maimuță in Romanian [source].

Mushrooms Hats

25 September 202425 September 2024 By Simon

An interesting Spanish word I learnt recently is hongo [ˈonɡo], which means fungus, fungal growth, mushroom, toadstool, bowler hat and derby. As this appears very different to words for mushroom in other Romance languages, such as champignon in French, I wondered where it came from.

Hongo comes from Old Spanish fongo (mushroom), from Latin fungus (mushroom, fungus, fungal infection, candle-snuff, dolt, idiot), from sfungus, from Ancient Greek σπόγγος (spóngos – spongue, tonsil), the origins of which are unknown [source].

Words from the same roots include sfungjer (sponge) in Albanian, սպունգ [spunɡ] (sponge) in Armenian, sponge in English, spugna (sponge, drunkard) in Italian, and сунѓер [ˈsuɲɟɛr] (sponge) in Macedonian [source].

Related words and expressions in Spanish include:

hongo venenoso = toadstool
nube de hongo = mushroom cloud
sombrero hongo = bowler hat [source]
valer hongo = worthless – colloquial, vulgar – used in Chile [source]

Other words from mushroom in Spanish include:

champiñón, which means (button) mushroom, fungus or mold, and was borrowed from French champignon (mushroom, fungus) [source]
seta, which is used in Latin America to mean mushroom, and possibly comes from Ancient Greek σηπτά (septá – lost things), from σηπτός (septos) [source]
callampa = mushroom or umbrella, and in the plural, callampas, shanty town. It’s used in Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador and Peru, and comes from Quechua qallampa or Aymara qallampa [source]

The French word champignon (mushroom, fungus, fungal infection, accelerator pedal), comes from Vulgar Latin *campāniolus (mushroom, lit. ‘grows in the field’), from Late Latin campāneus (of or pertaining to the fields), from Latin campānia (plain, countryside surrounding a city, cultivatable land), from campus (open flat level ground, a plain, a natural field), from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂ém-po-s, from *kh₂emp- (to bend, curve, smooth) [source].

Incidentally, the English word mushroom comes from Middle English muscheron (mushroom, fungus, toadstool, a surname), from Anglo-Norman musherum, from Old French mousseron / moisseron (mushroom), possibly from Old French mosse/moise (moss) [source].

Stanzas, Cameras and Salons

30 August 2024 By Simon

The Italian word stanza [ˈstan.tsa] means room or bedroom. I noticed it recently in my Italian lessons, and wondered where it came from. Today I realised that it’s related to the English word stanza (a part of a poem equivalent to a verse), and also has that meaning in Italian.

It comes from Vulgar Latin *stantia (standing, stopping-place), from Latin stantem (standing, staying, remaining), from stō (to stand, stay, remain), from Proto-Italic *staēō (to stand), from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (to stand) [source].

The English word stanza [ˈstænzə], which was borrowed from Italian, can also refer to:

An apartment or division in a building (architecture)
A segment or portion of a broadcast devoted to a particular topic (broadcasting)
A period or interval into which a sporting event is divided (sports)

It is also used in computing.

Words from the same roots include stance, stand, distant, estate, stable, stage, state, station, status and store in English, sawdl (heel) in Welsh, Staat (country, state) in German, and stam (tree trunk, stem, tribe, clan) in Dutch [source].

Other words for room in Italian include sala and camera.

Sala can also refer to a hall, living room or cinema (movie theatre), and was borrowed from French salle (hall, room), which ultimately comes from PIE *sel- (human settlement, village, dwelling), via Middle and Old French, Frankish and Proto-Germanic. The English words salon and saloon come from the same roots [source].

Camera is a room, chamber, bedroom, assembly, parliament or camera. It comes from Latin camera (chamber, room, vault), from Ancient Greek καμάρα (kamára – a vaulted chamber, vault), from Proto-Iranian *kamarā- (something curved), from *kamárati, ultimately from PIE *kh₂em- (to bend, curve) [source].

Words from the same roots include camera, cabaret and chamber in English, قَمَرَة (qamara – berth, bunk, cabin) in Arabic, καμάρα (kamára – arch, instep) in Greek, chambre (room, chamber, bedroom) and cabaret (pub, tavern, cabaret) in French, and câmara (chamber, council, camera) in Portuguese [source].

Camera, as in a device for taking photos and/or videos, is an abbreviation of camera obscura (A darkened room in which the image of an outside object is projected and focused onto a surface – see above) from New Latin camera obscūra (“dark chamber”) [source].

In English, camera can also mean a vaulted room or a judge’s private chamber, where cases may be heard in camera (in secret, in private).

Buckling Swashes

17 May 202418 May 2024 By Simon

Have you a swashed any buckles or buckled any swashes recently? Do you known the differences between a pirate, a privateer and a buccaneer? What about a freebooter or a corsair?

A swashbuckler is a swordsman or fencer who engages in showy or extravagant swordplay, a daring adventurer or a kind of period adventure story with flashy action and a lighthearted tone [source].

A swashbuckler likes to swashbuckle, that is, take part in exciting romantic adventures [source].

Swash as a noun has a variety of meanings, including:

The water that washes up on shore after an incoming wave has broken.
A narrow sound or channel of water lying within a sand bank, or between a sand bank and the shore, or a bar over which the sea washes.
A wet splashing sound.
A smooth stroke; a swish.
A swishing noise.
A long, protruding ornamental line or pen stroke found in some typefaces and styles of calligraphy.
A streak or patch.

As a verb, to swash means:

To swagger; to act with boldness or bluster (toward).
To dash or flow noisily; to splash.
To swirl through liquid; to swish.
To wade forcefully through liquid.
To swipe.
To fall violently or noisily.
To streak, to color in a swash. [source].

Swash also appears in swash letter (an italic capital letter with top and bottom flourishes, intended to fill an unsightly gap.) [source]; and swish-swash (a repeated swishing action or sound, going back and forth) [source].

A buckler is “a kind of shield, of various shapes and sizes, held in the hand or worn on the arm (usually the left), for protecting the front of the body. In the Middle Ages in England, the buckler was a small shield, used not to cover the body but to stop or parry blows.” [source].

A pirate is “a criminal who plunders at sea; commonly attacking merchant vessels, though often pillaging port towns.” It comes from Old French pirate (pirate), from Latin pīrāta (pirate), from Ancient Greek πειρατής (peiratḗs – brigand, robber), from πεῖρα (peîra – trial, attempt, plot). It replaced the Old English word wīċing, which could refer to a pirate or a viking [source], although vikings were more commonly called Norþmenn (north people), hǣþene (pagans) or Dene (Danes) [source].

A privateer was historically a privately owned warship that acted under a letter of marque to attack enemy merchant ships and take possession of their cargo. An officer or any other member of the crew of such a ship, or in other words, a government-sanctioned pirate [source].

Buccaneer is another word for pirate, and specifically refers to pirates who preyed on the ships of other nations on the Spanish Main and in the Pacific in the 17th century. It comes from French boucanier (buccaneer), from boucaner (to smoke or broil meat and fish, to hunt wild beasts for their skins), from boucan ([Tupi-style] grill), from Old Tupi m(b)oka’ẽ (wooden grill) [source].

A freebooter refers to an adventurer who pillages, plunders or wages ad-hoc war on other nations. It comes from Dutch vrijbuiter (freebooter, pirate), from vrijbuit (plunder, spoils) [source]. The old word flibustier (a French pirate in the Americas) comes from the same roots [source], as does filibuster [source].

Incidentally, the Dutch word buit (spoil, booty, loot, prey, gains), and the English word booty, might ultimately come from the Proto-Celtic word *boudi (victory, booty, spoils), as does the name Boudica [source].

A corsair refers specifically to French privateers, especially from the port of Saint-Malo, and the ships they sail. It can also refer to privateers and pirates in general.

It comes from French corsaire (privateer, corsair, pirate), from Italian corsaro (privateer, corsair, pirate), from Medieval Latin cursārius (pirate, sea-raider), from Latin cursus (course, running, race, way, passage, journey, voyage) [source].

Are there any other words for pirate that I’ve missed?

For more seafaring-related words, see this podcast, which inspired this post:

Saturn’s Bathing Day

21 November 202321 November 2023 By Simon

The English word Saturday comes ultimately from the Proto-West Germanic *Sāturnas dag (Saturn’s day), which is a calque (translation) of the Latin diēs Saturnī (day of Saturn).

Saturday

There are similar words in other West Germanic languages, such as West Frisian (saterdei), Low German (Saterdag), and Dutch (zaterdag), all of which mean Saturday [source].

There German word for Saturday, Samstag, comes from Middle High German sam(e)ztac, from Old High German sambaztag (Sabbath day), from Gothic *𐍃𐌰𐌼𐌱𐌰𐍄𐍉 (*sambatō), a version 𐍃𐌰𐌱𐌱𐌰𐍄𐍉 (sabbatō – Saturday, the Sabbath day), from Koine Greek σάββατον (sábbaton – Sabbath), from Hebrew שַׁבָּת‎ (šabbāṯ – Sabbath), possibly from Akkadian 𒊭𒉺𒀜𒌈 (šapattum – the middle day of the lunar month).

Words from the same roots include samedi (Saturday) in French, sâmbătă (Saturday) in Romanian, and szombat (Saturday, Sabbath) in Hungarian [source].

In northern and eastern Germany, another word for Saturday is Sonnabend (“Sunday eve”), as apparently in Germanic recking, the day begins at sunset. It a calque of the Old English sunnanǣfen (Saturday evening) [source].

Words for Saturday in the North Germanic languages have a different root, however. These include lördag in Swedish, lørdag in Danish and Norwegian, leygardagur in Faroese and laugardagur in Icelandic. They all come from the Old Norse laugardagr, from laug (pool) and dagr (day), so literally “bathing day” [source].

These words have also been borrowed into Finnic languages: Saturday is lauantai in Finnish, laupäev in Estonian and lavvantaki in Ingrian.

Are there any other languages in which Saturday means something like “bathing day”, or something else interesting?

See also: Days of the week in many languages on Omniglot.

Tarragon Dragons

11 November 2023 By Simon

What links the word tarragon to words like dragon and drake?

Tarragon is a perennial herb of the wormwood species Artemisia dracunculus native to Europe and Asia. It’s also known as estragon, dragon’s wort or silky wormwood. Other names are available.

The word tarragon comes from Middle French targon (tarragon), from Medieval Latin tragonia (tarragon), from Arabic طَرْخُون‎ (ṭarḵūn – tarragon), from Ancient Greek δρακόντιον (drakóntion – dragonwort, Dracunculus vulgaris), from δράκων (drákōn – dragon, serpent) [source].

The word dragon comes ultimately from the same Ancient Greek roots, via Middle English dragoun (dragon, drake, wyrm), Old French dragon (dragon), and Latin dracō/dracōnem (dragon) [source].

The word drake (a mayfly used as fishing bait, dragon [poetic], fiery meteor), also comes from the same Ancient Greek roots, via Middle English drake (dragon, Satan), Old English draca (dragon, sea monster, huge serpent), Proto-West-Germanic *drakō (dragon), and Latin dracō (dragon) [source].

Incidentally, the word drake, as in a male duck, comes from Middle English drake (male duck, drake), from Old English *draca, an abbreviated form of *andraca (male duck, drake, lit. “duck-king”), from Proto-West Germanic *anadrekō (duck leader), from *anad (duck) and‎ *rekō (king, ruler, leader) [source].

Jot & Tittle

12 October 2023 By Simon

Jot and Tittle – it would be a good name for firm of printers, but actually means a smallest detail or the smallest details. It is often preceded by every, as in “every jot and tittle”.

Jot and Title

A version of this phrase appears in the Bible (Matthew 5:18):

For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

Another example include “He did not get every jot and tittle, but the plan ultimately adopted was viable.”

Jot can refer to:

Iota (Ι ι), the smallest letter or stroke of any writing.
A small amount, bit; the smallest amount.
A brief and hurriedly written note.
A moment, an instant. (obsolete))

It comes from Latin iōta (a Greek letter), from Ancient Greek ἰῶτα (iôta [Ι ι] – a letter in the Greek alphabet; a very small part of writing). The name of the letter comes from Phoenician 𐤉‬‎ (y‬ – yōd/yodh), which comes from Proto-Semitic *yad- (hand). The letter is based on an Ancient Egyptian hieroglyph meaning hand or arm (𓂝).

The English word iota (a jot, a very small, insignificant quantity) comes from the same roots.

Tittle can refer to:

Any small dot, stroke, or diacritical mark, especially if part of a letter, or if a letter-like abbreviation; in particular, the dots over the Latin letters i and j.
A small, insignificant amount (of something); a modicum or speck.

It comes from the Middle English title / titel(e) (inscription, small mark or stroke made with a pen), from Anglo-Norman titil, from Medieval Latin titulus (title of a book, heading, tablet, inscription, epitaph), which probably comes from Etruscan.

Words from the same roots include tilde (e.g. ã, ñ, õ), and title in English, and tildar (to declare, brand, stigmatize, put a tilde or other accent mark over, to go into a trance) in Spanish.

Sources:
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/jot_and_tittle
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/jot#English
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/iota#English
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tittle#English
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/middle-english-dictionary/dictionary/
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tildar#Spanish

Omniglot Blog

Adventures in the world of words and language

Category: Ancient Greek (Ἑλληνική)

Pans of Cream

Jack Of All Trades

Buttery Donkeys

Snub Nosed Simians

Mushrooms Hats

Stanzas, Cameras and Salons

Buckling Swashes

Saturn’s Bathing Day

Tarragon Dragons

Jot & Tittle